Love Unleashed

by Natalie Brunwick

  “I know, and I apologize for this. You and Jerry play off each other so much, it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t sometimes.”

  “You know you could’ve just asked instead of pulling me in here and practically giving me a heart attack, right?” I said, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves.

  “True, but I find folks respond to me more when they think they’re in trouble.”

  “Just like getting sent to the principle’s office,” I said with a nod, my shoulders bunching with tension as soon as I realized my reason for being in Tim’s office in the first place. “Why do you keep him on, anyway?” I couldn’t hide the venom in my voice, and at this point, I didn’t care.

  “Because,” Tim said, giving me his full attention. “As much as you two pretend to hate one another, you do some of your best work when the other one’s around. It’s healthy competition.”

  Healthy. Right. Maybe for the company, but not for me. “Is that what you call this?” I seethed, tearing the photo from his desk so I could hold it right in front of him. “Is this healthy? Is Jerry walking around with a camera and harassing one of our past clients actually a good thing? Because that’s what it is.

  You know, she saw him take the picture that day. When I confronted him, he told me it was for our wall. He was going to update my picture,” I said, using air quotes. Man, that was a load of crap. “That out there?” I went on, gesturing at the main office. “That isn’t healthy.” It wasn’t even close.

  My throat was hoarse, and it wasn’t until I stopped speaking when I realized I’d been screaming. The entire office had probably heard every single word. Whatever. If they wanted to spread rumors about my outburst, so be it. But I wasn’t about to accept Tim’s tiny excuse of an apology or whatever it was at the cost of Kris.

  “I’ll talk to him,” Tim said once I’d quieted down, his voice far kinder than mine had been. “In the meantime, I want you to take the rest of the day off so you can come back fresh Monday morning.”

  “But I haven’t done anything wrong,” I argued, not moving from where I was. He couldn’t fault me for what I said.

  What Jerry did was… well, it was inexcusable. Teasing and small jests I could understand, but this? Taking the photo in the first place was wrong, but trying to sell it off to Tim as me dating one of our clients?

  I had no idea what Jerry’s plan was, but I wasn’t about to play into his games. Not anymore.

  “I never said you did,” Tim said, pulling me from my thoughts before they got the better of me. “Is everything settled with the Taylor property?” he asked a moment later, grounding me in the here and now.

  “I was just coming back to wrap things up,” I managed, coughing to get the air moving from my lunch again. Finally, after weeks of work, the property sold.

  “Go ahead and do that, then see about treating this special lady to something nice.” He inclined his head at the photo I continued to clutch in my hand.

  With my heart rate slowly returning to this side of normal, I smiled my thanks, then left. I didn’t make it two steps outside Tim’s office when I felt him following after me again.

  Jerry met my gaze from across the office, his brow going up moments before Tim called out his name loud enough for everyone else to hear. Now, I don’t usually take pleasure in someone else’s misery, but the thought of Jerry squirming under Tim’s thumb did make me smile a tiny bit. But only a little.

  It took me fifteen minutes to reach Ruthford’s ice cream shop and another twenty until I pulled into Kris’ driveway with Duke barking at the front door. Duke’s whine on the other side of the front door put a smile on my face, and as soon as Kris opened it, I practically collapsed in her arms. All of the stress, all of the adrenaline from earlier hit at the same exact time.

  “Leah,” Kris said with surprise, throwing her arms around me before I could fall. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? I thought you had to work.” Deep creases marred her beautiful face, her eyes full of worry.

  “Fine,” I managed, half hugging her and half sinking into her warm embrace so I could kiss the sensitive spot behind her ear. Her tremble made me smile, pulling me back into focus. “Everything’s fine,” I assured her when she continued to look at me with uncertainty in her eyes. “Better than fine, actually.”

  She drew us apart, smiling as she did. “You closed on the house.”

  “I did, but that isn’t why I’m here.”

  Then, realizing I had a Ruthford’s bag in my hand, she furrowed her brow. “What’s the ice cream for? It’s the middle of the day.”

  Warmth filled my chest as I gazed into those deep, beautiful, wonderful eyes. There was an entire world within those eyes, one that included me.

  “To celebrate,” I said.

  “Your sale?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

  “No, what we’re celebrating is even better. The ice cream’s for us,” I said, managing a smile even though my nerves were shot.

  Over the next several minutes, I told her about what Tim had said when he called me into the office. When I was through, we were both sitting in the living room with the ice cream still in its bag on the coffee table. Duke stayed right by Kris’ side, probably wondering why we hadn’t eaten anything yet.

  “All of this made me realize something,” I said, taking her in my arms before sinking into the couch.

  “What’s that?” she asked, curling up in my arms just like the night before, but not before kissing the inside of my wrist.

  “That if given the choice between you and work, I’d pick you.” When she lifted her head to meet my gaze, I continued, running the backs of my fingertips over her cheek as I did. “I never thought I’d ever say that about anyone,” I admitted with a nervous laugh. “I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you, but I used to be a workaholic.”

  “Used to be?” Kris asked with a touch of amusement in her voice.

  “Okay, so maybe I still work harder than most, but unlike before my focus is evenly split between work and you.”

  “And we’re celebrating because?”

  “You’ve domesticated me,” I said, wincing at my choice of words. “I never thought I’d settle. The stories you hear as a kid are about a man, a woman, their three dogs, and a collection of kids. I just… I figured that life wasn’t for me. But over the last month, I… what I’m trying to say is—”

  She burst out laughing, squeezing my hand as she did. “I love you too. With all of my heart.”

  Epilogue

  Six Months Later

  Kris was practically vibrating next to me as Furever Homes pulled into the driveway. We’d scoured their website and read every single profile for the animals they had there. It took us weeks to pick one, and another month until we could visit them with Duke. Now, weeks after our last visit, Kris was finally going to add a new member to her family.

  The Chocolate Lab’s name was Mindy and one of the dogs I’d looked at when the subject of Furever Homes first came up. According to the organizers, they’d tried to place her a number of times but she always came back. She had specific needs that none of the other buyers cared to meet. She needed a fenced in yard, one long walk every day, and a playmate. However, once they came to see the house and after Mindy got a chance to meet Duke, everything fell into place.

  In fact, getting Duke to leave the facility after his visit was close to impossible. He whined, tugged at his leash, and touched noses with Mindy through the fence. It was absolutely adorable, and with the staff of Furever Homes stepping out of the van, it was hard to say who was more excited, Duke or Kris.

  “Oh god, what if they change their mind,” Kris said, turning to me with deep creases along her forehead.

  I smiled and pulled her into my arms. “They’ve already seen the house, they adore Duke… what else is there to see? It’ll be fine, I promise. They wouldn’t drive all this way if they didn’t think you were a good fit.”

  Kris nodded, then slowly slipped out of my embrace
. “Yeah, I guess so.” She wasn’t convinced, but as soon as Mindy jumped out of the backseat, Kris froze. She placed her hands on the door and peered out the window with Duke wiggling beside her.

  “Everything will be fine,” I assured her, rubbing circles into her back. “Of course, you might want to open the door before Duke decides to break it down.”

  Kris laughed at that. It was a tight, nervous laugh, but one all the same. A second later, she stepped back, grabbed Duke’s collar, then opened the door, apologizing when Duke practically rammed her into one of the staff members from Furever Homes.

  “Let’s take them out back,” the woman suggested, holding onto Mindy’s leash as Kris did her best to guide them back through the kitchen.

  Claws scratched against the floorboards and linoleum, collars jingled, and both dogs whined loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Kris didn’t seem to notice or care, her smile as wide as it could go the moment Duke slipped from her grasp.

  As soon as the woman from Furever Homes let Mindy off the leash, both dogs ran circles around the backyard, barking and play-bowing at each other the entire time.

  “They’re acting like they’ve been friends or years,” Kris said, laughing when Mindy knocked Duke off his paws.

  “Then it looks like they’ll work well together,” the woman agreed, handing Kris a handful of papers. “This is just a list of her meal plans and how to go about changing her diet to what you use for Duke. I’m sure you’ve already gone over it with the owners but it’s a gentle reminder not to give her a full bowl of his food all at once.”

  Kris nodded and took the paperwork from her. “I plan to take things slow. I don’t want her to get sick.”

  “I have a month of food in the car that I’ll leave with you. If you have any problems at all, call the center. If no one answers, you can use this number here.” She pointed down toward the bottom of the paper. “That will go right to one of the owners. You can call them night and day in case of an emergency.”

  “I hope I’ll never have to, but thanks. Thank you so much for bringing her out here.”

  “It’s no problem at all. We love seeing happy families.” The woman looked from Kris, then to me and back at Kris again. “Anyway, I should be going. The drive will be lonely without Mindy as my backseat driver. Take care of yourselves.”

  We both smiled our thanks and Kris saw her out while I kept my eye on Mindy and Duke. They really were perfect for each other. I thought for sure Duke was fine on his own, but after seeing him romp around with Mindy, it was easy to see Kris had made the right choice.

  It hadn’t been long when Kris walked up behind me and placed her chin on my shoulder, her arms gently wrapped around my waist. “Maybe he’ll actually calm down inside the house now.”

  I laughed at that. “Are you kidding? You’ve seen how he gets after a long walk.” He’ll flop for all of five minutes before wanting to play ball again. It was exhausting, but hopefully, with Mindy around, he’d be able to play with her instead of interrupting Kris’ work.

  “True,” Kris agreed, sharing my line of thought. “But at least now I can get back to my old schedule. The emails have been coming in non-stop ever since I finished my work with Furever Homes. People love what I did.”

  “And they should,” I said, tilting my head back so I could kiss her on the cheek. “Maybe doing work for non-profits or shelters is the way to go. You didn’t complain one bit and really gave it your all. Not that you don’t do that all the time but… I’ll just stop before I talk myself into a corner.”

  Her warm laugh was music to my ears and sent a wave of butterflies into my stomach. She’d been so nervous about Mindy finally coming home that I hadn’t heard her laugh like that in a long time. Nerves aside, I knew she was worried that she might screw up, but if there was one thing I knew about Kris it was her attention to details. She never would’ve adopted Mindy if she didn’t think she could handle it.

  And I knew she could handle it. The confidence she had in herself may have wavered a tiny bit, but mine was as strong as ever. I knew she could do this.

  Still behind me, she hugged me close and kissed behind my ear. “I never thought this place would ever feel like home. It never felt right, not since the day I moved in and not when I filled it with stuff.” She let me go, turning me around so I was facing her. “Even after I took Duke in, there was something this place missed.”

  “Another dog?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “You,” she said, her cheeks darkening as much as my own. “You make the house warm when it’s snowing outside and full of life even when it’s just the three of us. Now four,” she added, looking toward Mindy who’d finally settled down long enough to lay beside Duke. “The house was never the problem, I just hadn’t found someone to share it with. You’re my missing piece,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “And after years of searching, after years of wondering why it felt wrong, now I know. It’s you. It’s always been you.”

  “Just as I’m your missing piece, you’re mine,” I told her, choking around my words. “I might not have a beautiful speech but I promise to hold you close when you cry, share a tub of Ruthford’s with you, and fill our home with laughter whenever I can. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. My heart hurts at the thought of losing you.” I’d tried to explain the feelings away as some kind of lust, but as the months passed, my love for her only grew. It filled my every thought, my dreams, and my chest until I felt it might burst.

  She was my everything. She was the shining light on my bad days and my companion on the better ones. She was the one person I turned to when I needed to talk about the really personal things and the only one I could see spending the rest of my life with her. I loved her, inside and out. It didn’t matter where we went from here or how many dogs we decided to adopt. So long as Kris looked at me like that with warmth in her eyes, there was no other place I’d rather be.

  “I love you,” Kris said through her tears, leaning into me when her emotions got the better of her.

  “I love you too.”

  Duke let out a loud bark, joining us with Mindy following close behind him before standing on his hind legs so he could get a hug from Kris. He really was a charming, sensitive dog.

  As a part of my family, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  “I’m right here,” I told Kris, lifting her chin before gently kissing her on the lips. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

  Thank you so much for reading.

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